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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526760">Little Darkroom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>After Junior year, F/F, Not Beta Read, my old school used to have abandoned rooms, nebulous acquaintanceship, so now North Shore has a few of its own</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:08:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526760</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina's just trying to pass a message along</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Regina George/Janis Sarkisian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Little Darkroom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So this is your hideout.”</p><p> </p><p>Janis looked over the side of the canvas she was working on when the door opened and frowned when she saw Regina at the entrance. Even though they were on neutral terms with each other, neither of them really interacted unless it was a group activity and even then, they barely made eye contact. This was an extremely awkward surprise. Why was she here now?</p><p> </p><p>“Can I help you?”</p><p> </p><p>Regina shut the door gently behind her, wandering further into the small room and taking in the little sights. “Your little platonic husband is looking for you.”</p><p> </p><p>Janis wasn’t in the art room where she usually was. Of course Damian was looking for her. She huffed and turned back to her painting. “Tell him you didn’t find me. I'm hiding for a reason.” She ordered. “How did you get here anyway?”</p><p> </p><p>“There are a few abandoned rooms in the school.” Regina shrugged, looking around, her eyes skimming through the messy sketches taped to one wall and the colorful chalk graffiti on the other. “Only a few of them aren’t storage closets, hangouts or hookup spots. I figured you’d be in the one room that had water nearby.” She gestured to the sinks and counters on the side, now taken over by paintbrushes soaking in glasses of water and paint cans spilling their contents all over the tile. “So the old darkroom for a defunct photography club.”</p><p> </p><p>Had Janis not harbored a semblance of anger towards Regina, she would have been impressed. Not many people knew North Shore used to have a photography club, much less an abandoned darkroom the school never repurposed. “Well congratulations then. You don’t get a reward.” Janis grunted, turning back to her painting and trying to focus. “Now can you go? I’m busy.”</p><p> </p><p>Regina hummed. “Can’t do that, unfortunately. At least not until you answer his texts or his calls.”</p><p> </p><p>Janis spared a quick glance at her phone, sighing when she noticed how many notifications she had from Damian. He was freaking out; those were entire paragraphs worth of exclamation points. “Can you just go tell him I’m fine?”</p><p> </p><p>“You and I both know Damian doesn’t believe anything good about you that comes out of my mouth.” Regina replied, looking at a landscape composition study of the football field Janis had done a little while ago. “The only way he’ll calm down is if you tell him yourself.” She pointed at the sketch. “Couldn’t you have chosen a more aesthetic view for this?”</p><p> </p><p>“Make a more aesthetic view yourself.” Janis scoffed. “I’ll write you a note. Get out and give it to him.”</p><p> </p><p>Regina shot her a deadpan look. “I’m not your mailman, give it to him yourself.”</p><p> </p><p>Janis was just about to get out of her chair and kick the Plastic out of the little room when she realized something. Regina was very resistant to leaving the room, she didn’t just tell Janis that Damian was looking for her and dip out. The artist could only assume that Regina wasn’t just here to pass along a message.</p><p> </p><p>“Why are you here, Regina?” Janis asked, setting aside her paintbrush and shifting in her seat to properly look at her guest. There was no way she could work in peace knowing Regina was choosing to stay with her in a cramped room for some reason.</p><p> </p><p>“I told you,” Regina says easily, “Damian’s looking for you.”</p><p> </p><p>Obviously, she wasn’t going to give her a straight answer, or at least Regina wouldn’t give her the right one right away. Janis repeated her question. “Why are <em>you</em> here, Regina.”</p><p> </p><p>Amusement shone in Regina’s eyes and she flashed her a small smirk. “Of course you of all people would know to dig.” She swept her hand over the counter to check if it was dry before leaning her hip against it. “I’m not sure what you want me to say, but I <em>am </em>here because he’s looking for you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, you're here on his behalf then,” Janis sighed, “but that doesn’t explain why you didn’t just tell him where I was and get <em>him</em> to come over here. You could’ve done that and made this so much easier for yourself. Why didn’t you?”</p><p> </p><p>The light in her eyes dimmed, and for a moment Regina didn’t even talk, just stared at her with a very specific look that Janis very rarely got to see. It was a spark of vulnerability she got when thinking about times before high school, a period of their lives that neither of them talked about. Janis wasn’t sure what it was, but she could feel the solemnity of the pause that it brought Regina.</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve always needed a secret spot.” Regina started slowly, trailing her eyes over the scribbles and mini-paintings taped to the wall. “It’s important to you and I can respect someone having their safe space, you know that. I just wasn’t sure if you wanted Damian to know where it was.”</p><p> </p><p>Janis forgets sometimes that Regina actually knew her. As much as Damian was her platonic soulmate, she’d basically grown up hip-to-hip with this girl in front of her. A smile threatened to form from the warmth building in her chest and she tried her best to suppress it. She didn’t think Regina still cared about her this much, figured that the Plastic would be more flippant with that sort of information. It was nice to be proven wrong.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, I guess.” Janis says, a fondness she didn’t expect creeping into her voice. “I promise I’ll call Dam.”</p><p> </p><p>Regina nods once, flashing Janis a small smile before she turns to leave. “I’ll take your word for it this time. See you around, Jay.”</p><p> </p><p>The door shuts with a soft click and Janis is still stunned at the use of her nickname while she listens to the muffled clicking of Regina’s heels disappear. She hadn’t heard it being used in a while, not even Damian called her that. "See you around, Regi." She says to herself, a reminder that Regina still cared.</p><p> </p><p>Janis chuckled for a moment in fond amusement, brushing her hair back as she attempted to push those mushy thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time to analyze their little interaction, though she’d probably end up staring at her ceiling all night thinking about it anyway. Right now she had to call Damian like she promised.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>The next time Janis comes back to her little secret studio in the darkroom, there was a new little painting stuck to the back leg of the easel that definitely wasn’t hers. It was of the football field, a view from one end of the goalpost looking to the other, a picture someone might put on an aesthetic board.</p><p> </p><p>Janis couldn’t help but smile. It was a messy little painting; she could see pencil marks under the light coat of paint. It certainly wasn’t made by someone with practice but Janis could recognize good, albeit clumsy, landscape composition when she saw it, and the colors weren't too bad either. Looks like a certain someone picked up a paintbrush again.</p><p> </p><p>If Janis put it under the glass of her study table, no one needed to know.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I haven't written fic in a very long while. Hopefully this reads well.<br/>I've been staring at course work too much.</p><p>Edit: Just had to fix 4 little things that bothered me</p></blockquote></div></div>
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